Uncompete: Rejecting Competition to Unlock Success

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

One of Thinkers50’s 10 Best Management Books for 2026

A timely and transformative new framework for success from a sought-after strategist, speaker, and author

The need to compete is deeply ingrained in every aspect of our lives and work. It’s often viewed as a positive: we are told it motivates us to do our best, to work hard, that it drives innovation and excellence. But, what if that’s a lie? What if in reality, competition causes more harm than good: exhaustion, anxiety, burnout, and an isolating lack of community. It encourages a scarcity mindset and keeps us from reaching our true potential.

Drawing on Ruchika’s own experiences working with corporations as a sought-after inclusion strategist, as well as interviews from business and community leaders and the latest research data, UNCOMPETE offers a new framework for building a culture of collaboration, solidarity, and mutuality. It’s a framework that yields not only a happier workplace, but a far more successful one, and it can transform our work and our lives. From showing us how to tap into our benign envy, to investigate our cultural norms, to cultivate a greater imagination, and rewrite the rules to lift everyone up, UNCOMPETE is a radical reset of our mindsets. It helps us cultivate abundance, find genuine joy in others’ victories, and embody the belief that there is room for all of us to succeed.

Ruchika T. Malhotra is the founder of Candour, a global inclusion strategy firm that has worked with some of the world’s biggest organizations. A former business journalist, she is now a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Seattle Times, and more. She has held adjunct faculty positions at the University of Washington and Seattle University and is the author of Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work, MIT Press’s top-selling book of 2022.